why do i think we should redo our set in shag carpet? >> brian: i don't know. something to do with the guys behind you. if you have to run from the tv, run to the radio. kilmeade and friends gets started in three seconds, two seconds. >> gretchen: have a great day. bye, everyone. martha: a small alabama town's nightmare is over after being held hostage for 7 very long days. a little boy is with his mom this morning. great news to report today. i'm martha mccallum in america's newsroom. gregg: i'm gregg jarrett. the little boy is said to be just fine, he's laughing and playing with his toys. martha: we are learning the details of this daring raid that managed to save him and kill his

captor. >> within the past 24 hours negotiations deer to yaitd and mr. dykes was observed holding a gun. at this point fbi agents fearing the child was in imminent danger entered the bunker and rescued the child. the child appears physically unharmed and is being treated at a local hospital. martha: elizabeth tran has been covering this and joins us from midland city, alabama. what a huge relief for this community. tell me what you are hearing about how they pulled off this raid. >> reporter: we just spoke with the local sheriff here and he told us it's still have much an. >> crime scene and ongoing investigation though details are being released.

we know from federal official they were able to see inside of that bunker which is how they had knowledge jimmy lee dykes had a gun. fbi officials did confirm via e-mail that he thinks dykes was killed by law enforcement. but the fbi is processing the scene and they will release details about the shooting of dykes very soon. he says it's very important that the agency keeps certain tactics private. the feds need to protect their resources. a loud boom was heard on the scene when police stormed the bunker. they felt he was in imminent danger. last night they continued to sweep the property to check for buried bombs while the neighborhood behind me does in fact remain evacuated. martha: that little boy is celebrating a very big day

tomorrow. i can't imagine what this has been like for his parents. are there any reports on how he's doing, how he's holding up at this point? >> he's doing very well. he's home or in the hospital with his mother on the eve of his 6th birthday. we are seeing the community come together. they are all signing birthday cards. the vigils we have seen nightly have turned into celebrations. >> it's been really hard on the community. you know, now maybe we can begin the healing process. this has been a tragedy, something we are not used to doing this. but it's been a real tough time. >> reporter: he went on to say they are having a big birthday party for this little boy tomorrow at a local football stadium and we expect hundreds

to attend. martha: elizabeth, thank you so much. we just saw the local sheriff there. his name is wally olson. he will join us next hour with more information on how they were able to save that little boy's life. what a wonderful outcome to this story. gregg: taking the financial meltdown to court. an action against the ratings industries. the justice department suing standard and poor's saying it misled investors and contributed to the 2008 economic crisis. s & p is denying all the charges. tell us more about the specific allegations of alleged wrongdoing. >> reporter: this is not as complicated as you might think. five years after the fact the government is saying to s & p.

saying you are a rating agency. usual partly to blame for the crash of 2008. you gave favorable rating to a packages of mort ages that went -- mort gauge psh of mortgages that went our. s & p says we gave the same rates as other agencies and you are not picking on them, you are picking on us. you are saying we should have predicted the crash. you are singling us out and pick on us. standard and poorms is owned by mcgraw hill. mcgraw hill's stock yesterday dropped 14%. gregg: there is a lot of chatter that maybe this is payback because the s & p downgraded the

u.s. credit rating. it caused political embarrassment. could there be some level of retribution? >> reporter: that's what a lot of people are saying. this is political payback. you downgrade us in 2011. it was bad news for america and the obama administration. now we are going to sue you. this lawsuit implies that all of the blame for the crash should go to wall street, whether it's bankers, brokers, insurance companies, you are to blame, not any blame attaching to politicians. gregg: these credit-backed securities and all kinds of investments that were bundled together, they were hard to discern. that will be s & p's defense.

we didn't know and neither did anyone else. martha: we are learning the tour bus involved in that horrific accident over the weekend had a history of maintenance problems. according to federal records the bus failed multiple inspects. as recently as october this bus was slapped with 8 violations. a horrific scene that napped this accident. 7 people were killed, dozens injured. >> reporter: people were screaming as the bus driver lost control saying i'm going to have to crash, i'm going to have to crash. martha: the exact cause of the crash is underway but the they e look at brake failure.

gregg: boeing is asking permission to conduct test flights of its dreamliner trying to find a solution of the battery problems that ground the entire fleet. government regulators are said to be evaluating the request. the lithium ion battery showed the same type of problem in a similar incident in boston. martha: there are new developments today in the trayvon martin case. lawyers for george zimmerman are trying to delay the start of this trial. phil keating is live outside the courtroom. today also happens to be what would have been trayvon martin s birthday. >> reporter: yes.

trayvon martin would have turned 18 years old today had he not been shot and killed by the neighborhood activist under highly disputed circumstances. ♪ happy birthday to trayvon >> reporter: members of the trayvon martin foundation gathered at the courthouse with song and prayers. upstairs the hearing is underway. as has bent case in the past, attorneys on both sides blaming the other side for delays. the defense wants a delay of six months. and it wants more discovery. trayvon martin and witness number 8, the girlfriend who claims he was being followed. the defense wants their twitter and facebook accounts as well as how her interview was conducted. martha: a lot of water under the bridge already in this one.

over the past year trayvon martin's parents have become very active in the gun debate. >> reporter: they will not be here today. the attorney for the family says today should be a day of celebration being it's his birthday. but it's not a day of celebration for the parent. the mother has been very active, testifying in tallahassee trying to repeal certain element of the stand your ground law. that's george zimmerman's claim that he feared for his life and that's why he had to pull the trigger and shoot trayvon martin in the chest in that gated community. there are special events in miami. it's a birthday week portray von martin and supporters. saturday there will be a peace walk, then sunday there will be a remembrance dinner for the life of trayvon martin.

martha: phil, thank you very much. we are just getting started this morning. a lot on our plates today. president obama pushing for what he calls common sense gun law changes including universal background checks. but would those checks have saved any of those we have lost in recent tragedies? is our mental health system going to change as a result of what happened in newtown and other places? our panel is going to bait this important story. gregg: big plans to build an amusement park in the very city where usama bin laden was killed by navy seals. we are looking at the possibility of osamaland. martha: no budget for the white house in four terms. >> we need our democrat colleagues to get serious about

spending. i wish i could give the american people more cause for optimism. but we see the president's budget is late and the senate hasn't passed a budge net nearly four years. [ male announcer ] how do you measure happiness? by the armful? by the barrelful? e carful?

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gregg: the oregon police getting a helping hand from mother nature. the man went down a road that had been closed an crashed into a landslide. the suspect was quickly taken into ski. into -- into custody. he's now facing numerous charges. martha: president obama spoke at an event in minneapolis to convince lawmakers to sign his measures into law. >> there is no legislation being proposed to subvert the second

amendment. tell them now is the time for action. we are not going to wait until the next attack or the next aurora. martha: a lot of people have different feelings about all this and whether the focus is where it should be. bob beckel and mary catherine hamm. one of the things a lot of people are frustrated with, you look at adam lanza, you look at jared locker in. all of these have mental health issues. jared loughner may be an exception but clearly he's

disturbed. no one is putting this front and center. >> background checks is the centerpiece of his legislations. background checks would have stopped what happened in virginia tech and it would have stopped what happened in aurora. where you had those cases where people bought guns who were clearly mentally disturbed this would have stopped it. as far as i'm concerned, any of this is a no-brainer. what is going through their mind? martha: i think a lot of people would be in favor of a universal background check and i think we all agree anything you can do to stop any element of this is a plus. but it feels as though -- emphasis does feel like it's more on the gun than the person pulling the trigger. it's tough to bring this issue

of institutionalization and whether some of these people should not be in a public school, perhaps they should be somewhere where they are not in with the rest of the population. it's a tough thing to do but it appears people are ignoring it. >> on both issues you run into civil liberties issues. but the focus seems to be con the gun. there is a slight difference. the universal background check, they passed a law after virginia tech backed by most of the senate and the nra and gun control groups that would have smoothed the process of getting these mental illness reports together and report together national database and communicating better. it clearly hasn't worked all that well because aurora happened as well. the federal solutions sometimes

put punishment on people who may not be doing anything wrong. you have to explain how your law is not going to impede people's rights. including dianne feinstein's bill. >> how can it impede somebody's trite have a background check on their mental health before they buy a gun? what is it about that that impedes anyone's life? >> what becomes the line. we can have the discussion. most of my generation is on some kind of anti-depressant at some point. is that the line? do you impede those people's constitutional rights because they have taken an anti-depressant? martha: in many cases these young people have people in their lives who felt strongly their child was out of control and they were capable of

violence but they had nowhere to turn. if you haven't broken a law you can't institutionalize your child. as a mom you can't imagine saying this. there are mothers out there who believe their child is not safe for society and they have nowhere to turn. i don't hear anyone screaming and yell being this issue. there was somebody around this issue who knew. there were people who said, that's the guy. everybody in town knew that would be the guy. that issue i would love to hear more from the president on this issue. it feels like we are going to throw a lot of laws out there and we won't have anything that would change any of that which we all know is the basis of this problem. >> in lanza's case where his mother knew he had a problem. that's a long complicated case that goes back to the reagan years in california where they

deinstitutionalized people with mental illness. in the case of virginia tech. this man went into a gun store and had a clear history of mental illness. martha: you need to enforce the laws on the books and deal with mental illness. >> biden had to admit don't get our homes up this will stop mass shootings. >> if it stops wind's worth it. the nra versus one kid is not a close call as far as i'm concerned. martha: thanks, you guys. gregg: the hideout for one of

the world's most notorious destinations could become a tourist destination and petting zoo. martha: imagine bumping into this. oh, my ... sure. why not? woah. touchscreens. put that in your dash. now, luxury stuff. make your seats like that. that thing has wifi, why doesn't your car? you can't do that. ignore that guy. give it wifi. yes! make it fit 5 people. no, 5 actual sized people. give them leg room, good. destroy boring car interiors forever. and that's how you do it. easy. ♪

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martha: developing right now in america temperatures newsroom, the man accused of orchestrating the attack on the u.s.s. cole is facing a judge on whether he's competent to stand trial. >> micro some of the looking to buy dell computers. canada is cutting costs.

>> we are reading some that are speculating maybe the nickel is the next to go. there is no question when we are talking about the cashless economy, if you will, a more and more consumers are using their debit card. more and more consumers are using their credit cards. >> a penny fear your thoughts, or lucky penny or things like that. martha: the u.s. is wrestling with the same issue. you know when you go to buy something and you have the canadian penny. gregg: you should patiently take them out. i put them all in a jar and once a year i take them down to the bank and i get $10.

martha: that's what guides are for. get them to roll them up. gregg: welcome to bin ladenland. pakistan to build an amusement park in the very town where a team of u.s. navy seals killed the al qaeda leader. eric, what are they planning? >> reporter: imagine you win the super bowl and they say what are you going to do now? you say i'm going to abbottabadland. the notorious town where usama bin laden was killed by navy seals in 2011. it will start at 50 acres. they hope to go up to 500 acres. it will include a heritage park, jogging trails, rock climbing.

mini golf, everything for a well-heeled pakistani family to go to for the weekend. it turns out abbottabad is an upscale center and a town where pakistani families have gone for the weekend. so local officials hope to have a new image with this amusement park. it should break ground in just a few months from now. they hope to have it finishes between 5-8 years. gregg: the compound doesn't exist an anymore, right? >> reporter: the compound was razed and the officials there fought against turning it into a park. local officials say this amusement park plan has absolutely nothing to do with usama bin laden or the compound

or what happened there. just an effort basically to get a rebranding and new image and have a new center for families to enjoy. talk about a message that's opposite of al qaeda's. we'll see what happens when they start constructing it in a few months. martha: i don't think disneyland is too concerned. they will be okay. it happens to millions of people every day. spending precious time stuck in traffic. it happens to me several times a week. we are going to have the details. >> a big push on immigration reform going on. the president hosting liberal groups and labor leaders. lawmakers are set to take up the issue. we'll talk to a key wrongman who will be at that hearing in just a moment. aw this is tragic man, investors just like you

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>> to think that 11 million are living among us without documentation. we need to do something to give them a chance to earn their way to citizenship. martha: the democrats seem to be a bit sceptical about republicans and their immigration plan. that's a shock. >> reporter: the proposal with durbin's group ties into border security. the white house says that can't be an excuse to delay citizenship forever. president obama said in las vegas that there has to be a path for illegals to come out of the shadows. janet napolitano said there have already been enormous improvement in tightening the border. >> we have manpower and factors 10 times what we had a few years

ago. we have record amounts of infrastructure built, not just single fencing in some of the areas of sad, but double and triple fencing. >> reporter: napolitano says illegal border crossings are down 70%. part of that is the slower u.s. economy which makes it less attractive for job seekers. martha: what does immigration in the u.s. look like? there are 11 million illegal immigrants in the united states. 80% of those come directly from mexico or latin america. half of those facing deportation were convicted criminals. gregg: in less than 45 minutes the house judiciary committee will hold the first hearing on immigration. my next guest will be in that hearing.

virginia congressman randy forbes is a congressman. congressman, good to see you. some of your colleagues are deeply concerned about primarily challenges from tea party candidates who will label any effort of engage a pathway to citizenship as sam necessary city. can that be ironed out? >> you can always have different agendas and individuals who bring things to the table when we are trying to get good policies. but that's not what our focus will be in the next 45 minutes. this is an important issue and we need to have a fair hearing and we need to put the fact.on. there are huge facts that have to be answered. one of the big ones you don't hear talked about have much. oftentimes this comes down to our priorities. when the president talks about a pathway to citizenship, he's putting priorities on individuals that haven't walked down that pathway and tried to circumvent sit.

one of the things we are not hearing people talk about is the $5 million people on that pathway to citizenship that aren't seeing the end. some of them waiting 7 years because of the bureaucratic red tape. we want to put all that on the table and get a good policy for the country. gregg: are the republicans losing the hispanic vote because of your current positions. >> people can focus on that and sometimes you have to focus on short-term politics or good policies. our focus is to make sure we are getting good policies for this country. there are some things i hope we'll see coming forward. among those are how we get the quality workers. the people doing jobs that other people won't do in this country. how can we open doors for those individuals and our border security which i think a lot of people will be asking tough questions about

that. gregg: border security has been beefed up considerably in the last four years. deportations are 400,000 a year. and a recent study found the net flow was positive or negative. so enforcement has been working pretty well, hasn't it? >> i haven't talked to too many people on the border who think our current enforcement is working very well. we have seen -- this administration shut down some of the border patrols that we have. we have seen them cut down some of those resources. we'll have to ask, are we doing the things we need to to get credibility to the american people that we are doing the border security we need to do? that's going to be part and parcel on making sure people will embrace immigration we reform. gregg: the last time there was amnesty ronald reagan signed it

into law. but it backfired because there was no enforcement on employers hiring more illegals and that lured millions more into the united states. why not simply have a useful and workable enforcement mechanism on employers. i was stunned to read that 90% much american employers don't even use e-verify. and it has a nearly 100% accuracy. >> that's another thing we'll want to be taking a hard look at. there is always something on both sides of that equation. there are some employers who abuse that. we'll want to look at that. but you hear from employers across the country, the difficulty of them being able to verify whether they have appropriate employees. gregg: would you be in favor of a short path to citizenship for children but for adult who came

here illegally. it would be a more arduous tas. would you vote for that. >> one of the reasons we are having these hearings is to see what will work and what is the best approach forward. one of the things i would be in favor of is putting that on the table and getting the facts and analysis for doing that. one of the things that's problematic is when you have people who draw lines in the sand and say they won't do this or won't do that. i hope we'll get a fair hearing of this. it's a balanced hearing. i believe that what's you will find out and hopefully we'll get a lot of answers coming out of this hearing. >> thank you so much for being with us. martha: the dow jones industrials kissing up to that

14,000 mark this morning. we'll see if it can cross over. some good news from europe and china. that's fueling the markets this morning and we'll see if they can make it over 14,000 today. it feels like there is a bit of a divide went u.s. economy and the stock market. but for investors they are pleased with that. gregg: no budget in no problem. the white house misses another deadline deciding how much money the government needs to spend. which would be fine if bob were a vampire. but he's not. ♪ he's an architect with two kids and a mortgage. luckily, he found someone who gave him a fresh perspective on hisortfolio. and with some planning and effort, hopefully bob can retire at a more appropriate age. it's not rocket science. it's just common sense.

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gregg: running into the surprise of their life in an outrigger canoe off the coast of hawaii. >> oh, my! gregg: the as couple is rolling along and a humpback whale jumps

out. they looked around and said did that really happen? there is the slo-mo. i would be so frightened. did you see the marlin who took out the fishing boat? martha: they look very calm, though. amazing shot. >> president obama missed a great opportunity today to help our economy. this was suppose to be the day the president submitted his budget to the congress. but it's not coming. it's going to be late. and some reports say that it could be as long as a month late. i think that's too bad. our economy could use some leadership right now. martha: can you believe this? here we go again. that's the house speaker john boehner criticizing president obama for missing his fourth

budget deadline in four years. senate democrats have not submitted a budget plan in nearly four years. byron york is chief correspondent at the washington examiner. you can either laugh or try. it's so pathetic it's unbelievable. >> they have a troubled history. the law requires the president submit a budget the first monday in february. that was yesterday. it didn't happen. it hasn't happened in a number of years. in fact the senate democrats have not wanted to pass a budget for a number of years. the last one they passed was 2009. the on ones who wanted to hold votes on them were republicans who were trying to embarrass the democrats. the votes have been 99-0 and 97-0. this time the senate democrats say they are going to put together a budget. so when the president gets

around to sending it perhaps lit mean more. martha: jay carney says the problem isn't in the white house. it's that house republicans submit partisan budget that will never pass. >> the house has passed the so-called ryan budget after paul ryan and that has gone into where in the senate. but you have got to start somewhere and the president. proposal is generally thought to be that place. when carney was asked about this yesterday on air force one on the way up to minneapolis he just basically said i have got nothing for you. don't know why the president's budget is late. a lot of people think the president is pushing it back past the state of the union address february 12. we won't see anything after that. martha: is that typical? >> budgets have been late by a week or two. it's not commit unusual. i think we can predict with

great certainty that once the president does produce the budget have you cans will cite size for spending too much and borrowing too much and cutting too little. i think the president is pushing that process after the state of the union. martha: how do you function? how do you figure out how much money you have to spend in your different line items and agencies if you don't have this? >> this has been the story of the federal government for the last four years. the last budget passed april 2009. it elevated levels of spending. a lot more spending in discretionary areas in the federal government and they kept it with those levels with so-called continuing resolutions. supposedly congress gets together and says let's continue what we are doing, we don't need to pass a new budget. martha: byron, thank you. oh, my goodness.

gregg: it's like ground hog day. nothing changes. a leaked memo that makes it okay for the government to kill americans. does the pats smell test? martha: spending your life in traffic. it costs americans for than just their valuable time. do you know how long the average person spend staring at bumpers? we'll be right back. stick around. more america's newsroom straight ahead.

gregg: sitting in traffic that never seems to end. there is a new report that shows americans spent 5.5 billion hours in traffic last year alone. the cost of that wasted time. $121 billion. times money, i guess. >> >> reporter: $818 per commuter per year. your time is money. texas a&m's transportation index put this together that 121 billion dollars in lost time, lost gasoline, lost money. in the aggregate come together to equal that you all are sitting in traffic and it could be affect your life in a negative way. gregg: you and i grew up in

los angeles which is gridlock central. you had to get out of the road by 3:00 in the morning to be on the road by 4:00. >> reporter: l.a. comes in at not number one, but number two on the list. guess what comes in as number one? that would be washington, d.c. for a 30-minute trip you have to leave three hours in advance. for the rest of us the average was for a 20-minute trip you would leave an hour in advance. if you didn't want to miss the appoint you built in that time. that's time that you lost not being able to work on other things. what does it lead to? the questions about how can we improve this, whether it's better transportation or move closer to where you work. gregg: new york has very good public transportation. i take the train every day it many only a half-hour. it would take me longer if i

jumped in my car. >> reporter: new york came in fourth behind san francisco which any of us who ever lived there. you have got the bay bridge. you can't get around san francisco. everything is a one-way street. boston to me is the worst traffic. anything going in and out. if you are wondering if your city is in there. we have number six was houston. atlanta is, chicago 8, philadelphia 9. which ones are good? pensacola, florida. gregg: i love pensacola. live closer to work maybe. >> reporter: that becomes a lifestyle change. but you don't want to waste your life in your car unless you are in l.a. and you have fancy cars.

gregg: thank you so much, liz. martha: i do like to drive myself but i like to read while i'm doing it. a driverless car would work for me. coming up. the sheriff spent 7 agonizing days trying to free a 5-year-old little boy. today he is breathing a huge sigh of relief as is this entire community. he will be here with the riveting tale of the bunker standoff. new details when we come back. hey, our salads. [ bop ] [ bop ] [ bop ] you can do that all you want, i don't like v8 juice. [ male announcer ] how about v8 v-fusion. a full serving of vegetables, a full serving of fruit. but what you taste is the fruit. so even you... could've had a v8.

martha: this is the big story today. making the case for killing americans. a justice department memo is laying out why the white house believes it's okay to target our citizens overseas under certain circumstances. this is a brand-new hour of america's newsroom.

i'm martha mccallum. gregg: this memo lays out why this does not violate their constitutional rights if they ar.ambassador john bolton is a x news contributor. ambassador. good to see you. president obama would appear to have a different opinion of the patriot act than senator obama back then. he was highly critical of the patriot act and president bush's methods of waging war. so i guess you get a case of for reals when you sit in the oval office. >> reality can do strange things even to ideological presidents

like obama. you are correct in broad strokes on this question of targeting americans and going after terrorists. this memo appears to be consistent with the policies of the bush administration. gregg: it has been a longstanding rule thawvment s. citizens who take up arms with the enemy are eligible to be attacked by american military forces. that has been the case in conventional wars in the united states including two world wars, right? >> absolutely. i don't think there is anything particularly new here. but those who say there is no new process are assuming a conclusion. if you assess the threat of international terrorism to be the equivalent of war then you are in the law of war paradigm. this is not like robbing the local 7-eleven where you resort to the law enforcement paradigm. it doesn't mean there are no rules at all.

it means you have to be look at people who are engaged in operations against the united states. and this memo appears to be fairly narrowly tailored and i think entirely appropriate for the kind of threat we face from international terrorists. gregg: a couple federal courts recently considered what we are talking about. one federal judge said the killing of an enemy combatant albeit a u.s. citizen is not matter for judicial review. it's an executive branch function. you would agree? >> the constitution is clear under article two that the president's commander-in-chief power is not je not jew -- is nt

judiciously reviewable. this is leaks from a memo that it does not require the u.s. to have clear evidence of a specific attack on u.s. persons and interests in the immediate future. is that an expansion, ambassador, of tour preexisting policy or not? >> not at all. less than two months before pearl harbor franklin roosevelt said when you see a rattle snake poised to strike you don't wait until he strikes to crush him. he authorized our ships to fire first and that's consistent with longstanding policy. gregg: ambassador, good to see you. martha: to give you an idea how

common drone strikes are. in pakistan alone there have been 332 strikes since this program began back in 2004. 7 strikes already this year. we are into the beginning of february. it's estimated 2,400 militants have been killed in pakistan. gregg: family and friends describe sarah sierra as a devoted mother. and they are grateful her body has been found. >> at least they found her. there are some people still waiting for their loved ones that haven't been found. i thank god for that.

i thank god we were able to find her and were able to have her here with us. >> they are conduct an investigation. the fbi has been in very close touch with us. they said they are. gregg: the fbi is working with turkish authorities to figure out who killed her. they say she suffered a fatal blow to the head. they say they will talk to the kid once her husband returns with her body. martha: a small alabama town will rest easy after a week long standoff. a hostage with a 5-year-old boy. this one ended in the best possible way. the man responsible for this,

65-year-old jimmy lee dykes was shot when authorities stormed the underground bunker where he was keeping this child. folks in the area say they are very happy this little boy is okay. >> we prayed for him to come out strong and safe and for his mother to wrap her arms around him and for him to know we have been praying. and it's unbelievable the support that this town has thrown in for this. >> relief was my first thought. everyone i have spoken to, just a tremendous feeling of relief. martha: i breathed a huge sigh of relief when i saw this little boy was released safely. here is congresswoman martha robey who represents the district where the little boy was taken.

thank god this child is okay. what have we learned from this and was is your reaction to this mission this morning? >> let me say first to ethan and his mother and all of his family how relieved we are. i'm a mom. i have two small children. and i can just say beyond representing this district, more from the standpoint of a a mom, i can't imagine the anguish this family has gone through. and i would say to mr. poland's family, the bus driver, he made the ultimate sacrifice and we are so grateful for that and we are bringing a for them and their loss during this time. i would just say from the perspective of liberal law enforcement alongside from local, state and federal, all of the agencies involved in this, they are the heroes. they are the ones that returned this little boy safely to his family and so i just want to

give a tremendous thank you to them. martha: you are so right. this bus driver was such a hero. we are listening to peter johnson this morning. he said it could have been so much worse were it not for this man. if he had been able to move his way onto that bus and taken more of these children, who knows what would have happened in this situation. but when you look into the background of jimmy lee dykes. he was brought up on menacing charges and as i understand it his guns could have been taken away from him as a result of that. is there anything we need to learn about how to deal with people like this? >> i think at this time there is a lot of details that have yet to be release about the background on this situation. the relationships between those people involved. i would just say that we need to focus right now on ethan. we need to focus on his being

reunited with his family and celebrate that. give his family time to get their feet back on the ground after this situation like i said before that caused so much anguish not just with his family but throughout the community. as the events and facts unfold, i think it would be the appropriate time to reevaluate the situation. martha: hard to imagine what that mom felt like when she was able to put her arms around that little boy. good to have you with us. we want to bring in the dale county sheriff who we watched so closely through this entire thing. sheriff, i know you also hugely relieved that this turned out so well. >> absolutely. martha: talk to me about this operation and how it went down. >> a lot of the details of the

operation i can't give it's an ondegree criminal investigation. but everybody -- all the men and women of law enforcement and the first responders. everybody working together for one common goal to bring ethan home and make sure he was safe. the community involvement and everybody involved, the people helping people. that's really what it's all about. martha: we learned there was a camera that was lowered into that bunker. what can you tell us about that and we know from from the fbi as soon as they saw that they felt this boy was in danger they decided to create a diversionary tactic to get his attention away for a split second. what can you tell me about that? >> like i said, i can't go over our tactics or anything like that. i apologize. you know, let's face it, in the

times we are in we may have to call on these services again at some point in time. martha: what about his background, jimmy lee dykes. there have been reports -- we talked to one woman who said she beat her dog to death with a lead pipe. another man said he was brought up on menacing charges. he would not let anyone come near his property. he was allowed to build his bunker. what can we learn about dealing with this kind of person in that is something that maybe we can cake something away from. >> we have no report of the incident with the dogs. we did have a report menacing charges. we arrested him december 22. as far as the building of the facility we had no knowledge of that prior to this. martha: could you have taken away his guns when was arrested

on menacing charges at that point? >> you know, he was arrested by warrant that was done. you would probably have to talk to the district attorney to find out the details of the case. i'm not familiar with that. i now our deputies did arrest him without incident. martha: sheriff olson. great job to you and everybody else who worked on this. we are so thankful you were able to get that little boy out there. thank you so much, sheriff. >> thank you for your time. gregg: the hot button issue of immigration taking center stage on capitol hill. the house hearing set to begin any moment as the president prepares his own push for reform. will both sides be able to come to an agreement? martha: she has become a symbol of freedom and taliban oppression. the amazing story of this pakistani girl who was shot in

the head on her way to school by the taliban. she is doing much better and she has a lot to say. her message is a coming up. gregg: she's accused of murdering her boyfriend. now she has taken the witness stand and told the jury, yes, i did it. >> at the time i had plans to commit suicide. soy was extremely confident no jury would convict me because i didn't expect any of you to be here. i didn't expect to be here. ssor. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? and with all the points i've been earning, i was able to get us flight to our favorite climbing spot even on a holiday weekend. ♪

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martha: fox news alert. an immigration hearing is getting underway any moment now in the house stkwrao judiciary. president obama is pushing for immigration reform as you well know. my two guests have a lot of

experience with dealing with this. they are supporters of senator marco rubio's plan. you certainly have dealt with these these issues a lot in both of that you are respect testify states. i know you're supporters of marco rubio's plan. let me start with you congressman, what do you think about that. >> marco has been a leader on this and it took someone like marco to put this issue to the forefront. the president didn't want to deal witness. he put a plan forward, now we've got a debate going on and a committee hearing that will have meetings on this to talk about how to move forward. for republicans to attack marco i think it's wrong, it's outrageous, because he has an idea and a plan people are going to attack him? we need a serious debate on this issue, we need tow secure our borders north and south florida. we need 0 to come up with a way to deal with the 11 million people who are here illegally and do it with respect, and what

respects our constitution and our laws and people who want to come here. martha: that is a point of contention here, mary that is whether or not we need to secure the border. at what point would marco rubio and others say that the border is secure and we can move forward with the path for citizenship. the president says he's not going to wait until the border is secure to move forward with the other things. what do you think about that. >> this is the crux of it all. anyone who's seen the border. there is one thing to see the topography in san diego. when you go to cuidad juarez it's a different problem. it's a matter of securing the border, and what is the definition of a secure border. we should secure north and south but we have to move forward with something here. senator rubio is brave and

courageous and he has a credibility on the issue and i'm glad that he's leading. >> what would i say is we absolutely must require that border security happens. we know what happened back on the immigration issue on the 80s there, there was a promise of border security, it never happened. i think republicans are right to stand up and demand that border security is part of any plan, and the plan can't go forward unless it has the security and it's actionable right away. martha: we know the president is meeting with labor leaders at the white house and that was part of the problem in 2007 as well. a lot of the unions were not happy about a potential for a guest worker program that that would infringe on their workforce. >> my congressional district was one that it was clear that we did need a robust guest worker program, very strong in agriculture, but there are a number of industries who really do need a guest worker program and we can do it and we should do it. our district are so different and states are so different being from southern california

you can really see how critical it is that we do something, sooner rather than later. it's my great hope that the president will lead and not use this as a political football. i think lately you've been seeing 4 his practice srad doe and we are hoping he tones that done and does something and lead. martha: of all the issues that are out there right now, gun control very devisive, the budget is very desraoeufs. is this something that you do think republicans and democrats can neutralize politically and get together and do something on? >> i think with leadership like marco in the mix that it can. there will be a portion -- martha: will they let him get any of the credit, though? when that signing happens who will be standing up there next to the president. martha: knowing marco, that's what he cares about, what he cares about is solving this issue and doing it in way that respects our constitution and laws, and also understands that there are people who want to come to the united states, they want to dew it legally and we have to make reforms to make that possible. martha: we'll see. good luck to everybody across the board. connie mack, mary bono mack

thank you both. bill: a new nato mission to protect turkey from a possible mission strike from neighboring syria. live from a u.s. base with details on the operation and how our military might be involved. martha: the courtroom outburst that is grabbing national attention, what she said to a judge that landed her with an extra month in the slammer. >> did you say that? >> yes, sir i did. >> you did say that. >> yes. >> i find knew contempt. 30 days in the county jail. >> okay, that's fine.

martha: breaking news for you on u.s. ski champion and gold medalist lindsey vaughn has just rufrd suffered a crash art the world championships in austria. we have a picture of her being

airlifted out of this scene. we don't have that yet. we will work on that. it looks like it may be a knee injure. she was on day one of the super g in the opening day of of the alpine skiing world championships taking place in austria. she apparently slipped off the course. they had delayed the race for three and a half hours due to fog, and then the world is that she slipped off the course into the side fence than that she was treated on the scene for a little while, and now she has been lifted out. there are some pretty dramatic photos. we'll try to get you one shortly. we wish her well. gold medal champion lindsey vaughn injured in austria. bill: u.s. patriot missiles go into operation today along turkey's border with syria. turkey is a nato ally and syrian shelling has already killed several civilians there. some fear this is a sign that the united states could be considering a larger role in the syrian civil war. fox news is the only american tv

network on the ground there, greg pal colstreaming live a at a u.s. base along the syrian board. >> reporter: today marks the highest profile involvement yet by the u.s. in the syrian conflict. nd beyond me behind the gates of this turkish military base we watched today as u.s. run patriot missiles went operational. some 400 soldiers from oklahoma, texas and elsewhere are now 30 miles away from some of the uglyist fighting happening in syria. the purpose we were told today, purely defensive to protect this nato allive. symbolically, however it is offensive, it is a show of force. take a look at what we saw today. this is a launcher of a patriot missile being manned by american soldiers. to prevent any missiles going overt border over the horizon. syria has the missiles and is

using them it is the theory that they can be tipped with chemical weapons. the folks here say they could handle that as well. in fact some of the folks are upset about the u.s. involvement here. syria said it only heightens the conflict. iran and russia called it provocative. even in turkey itself they are concerned that group which claimed responsibility for the attack on the u.s. am bass see last friday cited this deployment. others are saying the u.s. is still not doing enough, with over 60,000 dead, 700,000 revenue geez, they say the states are still standing a bit by the side hraoeufpblts as we saw last week with that israeli strike again a target inside syria more and more this conflict is becoming a regional conflict, and now some folks from the states are involved. very close. back to you, greg. gregg: greg palkot reporting live inside near the syrian border. martha: new information is coming to light about that power outage that happened during the

super bowl sunday. it turns out the half hour black out may not have come as a big surprise to soft stadium officials there. gregg: a bombshell courtroom confession from a woman accused of killing her boyfriend while she now says she did it, she readily admits it, she said her difficult childhood was a critical factor. can that really help her avoid the death penalty? our legal panel weighs in. >> my mom also used a belt. my dad was very intimidating, so i don't think he needed to hit us quite as hard to get the point across. my mom didn't care, i think she used more force. her blows felt a lot worse actually. salon facial hair removal can be costly.

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this easy-to-understand guide will answer some of your questions, and help you find the aarp medicare supplement plan that's right for you. martha: we were talking about this a moment ago. we have the pictures of skier lindsey vaughn who is a gold medalist from the 2010 u.s. olympics, a four-time world cup champion. took a fall at the world cups in austria and was airlifted out of there. the thinking is there is an injury to the right knee and she will be evaluated and then they'll give us more information on her condition. but apparently it was very foggy there. they delayed the race about three and a half hours. when she did go she did crash and injure herself. we'll continue to keep and eye on that and get you any more updates as they come n. gregg: pretty stunning testimony from the arizona woman accused of killing her boyfriend, jodi

arias taking the witness stand telling the jury her life store detailing a very difficult and often bizarre childhood and flat out admitting, i did it. >> did you kill travis alexander on june 4th 2008. >> yes, i did. >> here now art you are aidala fox news legal analyst former prosecutor. and criminal defense attorney jeffrey gold. jeff, let me start with you. as i understand it you were inside the courtroom for some of the defense over several days. what is your take on this? >> well, yes, i was there all last week, and, you know, there was some testimony that was good for the defense, her former live in lover gave brewer gave very heart warming testimony that seemed to humanize her. it was the only time i saw the jury actually looking at jodi as if maybe she was a human being. boy, i'll tell you her testimony yesterday did her no good. not only was she robotic she seemed like a psychopath to me, somebody who could coldly say,

yes i killed him as if she was a robot. i don't think yesterday helped her i don't know if today will be any better. gregg: you know arthur she admittedly lied so many times to police. prosecutors are just going to have a field day with that on cross x, right? >> yeah, i mean, look the rule of thumb is if you have to put your defendant on the stand it's usually a desperation move. you never as a criminal defense attorney, the last thing you want to do is have your defendant testify because it opens up such a can of worms for everything else. here the can of worms is tremendous. however, what are you going to do? the evidence is overwhelming that she did it. she has to admit that she did it. you're hoping for two jurors, just two who will stick together in the deliberation room and say, we are not ready to kill this woman. we don't know, she had such a broad upbringing, sympathy overwhelms our sense of justice and we're going to find her not guilt taoerbgs it's guilty, and then she lives to see

another day. gregg: her defense is self-defense, he chronically abused her and at the very end she decided that the only way she could save her own life was to kill him, pure self-defense. but look, that's a pretty tough go in a case like this, isn't it? >> well it's actually her third defense. she created her first defense when she said i don't know anything about this. then she created her second defense when she said two intruders did it. in the opening statement of the defense surprisingly her defense attorney gets up and gives this third defense which is she did it but it's self-defense. the reason they are doing it it's because when you look at facts it's the only thing they can say either 0 have a defense of the case or save her life. it's create. she went up there with a deadpan trying to fill in the blanks. >> if you're right and that's how she came across as like stoic and robotic then she's not go shot shaoefplt needs t shot. she needs to crawl into the hearts of one or two of those

jurors and beg for their mean kwrepb. gregg: in using the physical evidence that she absolutely mutilated him, stabbing him 27 times, i can't tell you the rest of the stuff. she also put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger. the defense attorney, won't he argue, look only a horrific lee traumatized woman 0 do this. would mutilate the body after the individual was already dead? >> how raoeurt, except nor one thing. look at the kinds of things they are saying that set her up. oh, you know, travis was such a bad guy, you know he once touched his old girlfriend's butt e. once got an erection when they were kissing and he was supposed to be a virgin. and a mom who traumatized her when she was a kid wrapped her with a wooden spoon. my friend who went to parochial school had more punishment from her n u.n. s than what she is saying caused her to kill.

it ain't going to work. >> greg, your analysis of what the argument would be by the defense is right on u. should rile be a lawyer, gregg, go to law school or whatever. that's what she is going to say. if she wasn't such an abused person, if she didn't have these psychological flaws, 27 times? she won't have to do it 27 times. she had a genuine fear based on her history of abuse. gregg: you can look all over at some of the famous case. o.j. simpson didn't take the witness stand, acquitted. casey anthony did not testify, she was acquitted here. is it your consensus, gentlemen that this is a hail mary to avoid the death penalty? >> it's about the death penalty, gregg, that's what this case was b. 4 when they decided at hospitalizing to start talking about a self-defense, she did it but after there were two other statements who said two different defenses that was saying we are worried about the death penalty and that's all we are concerned about. it's what this defense has been all along. >> i agree whole hearted leave.

you never want to put your defendant on. if you do you need the sympathy factor, if you don't get it the hail mary pass was dropped. gregg: i can tell them now, are you telling the truth now, are you lying now, were you lying then, are you telling the truth now, which is it. >> i'd love to prosecute that case with that cross-examination coming up to. gregg: good to sigh. martha: breaking news just crossing moments ago. we can confirm this now. president obama will speak at 1:15 about a short-term budget package in an effort to avoid the cuts that would come as a result of the sequester. we have been pushing this ball further and further throughout the course of this whole exercise in the budget, but he says that he wants to ask congress to find a way to reduce the deficit in a balanced way to avoid these deep and indiscriminate cuts the large measure of which would come from

the department of defense. we'll get you more on that, 12:15 the president will be speaking. a young girl's fight for her life spreading a message against taliban oppression, what an amazing story this is. we now hear from the 15-year-old girl from pakistan who was shot for just wanting to go to school. gregg: a florida teenage store did not take her court pearance very seriously until the judge laid down the law, but it's what she said that actually got her more time in the slammer. >> count one would be 10,000. >> are you serious? >> i am serious. adios. [bleep]

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rude with the judge who was having none of it. he doubled her 5,000 bond to $10,000. miss soto seemed a bit surprised. >> count 1 would be 10,000. >> are you serious? >> i am serious, adios: [bleep] gregg: after cursing and flashing her middle finger art judge he summoned her back to see if he heard what he thought he heard. >> i believe you said -- >> why i did. >> did you say that. >> yes, sir i did. >> oh, you did say that? i find knew direct criminal contempt, 30 days in the county jail. >> okay, that's fine. gregg: 30 days, criminal contempt. he can do it. hope she brought her toothbrush. she was originally arrested for illegal possession of antianxiety medication. martha: i got a girl nobody

tells that girl what to do. bill: gregg: she is going to learn the hard way. martha: she's fine with 30 days. 10,000? no. but 30 days, okay. this is an unbelievable story we have covered since the very beginning and it's a true story of hope and inspiration. we are hearing the first comments now from a 15-year-old pakistani girl who is becoming an international symbol of what taliban oppression can produce. mali was shot in the head point-blank in the head by militants while she was in the bus going to school. that happened back in october. she has always believed that girls should have the right to go to school and now after two major surgeries this young girl is pulling through, and her mission she believes has really just begun. listen to her. >> today you can see that i'm alive. i can speak, i can see you. i can see everyone, and today i

can see, and i'm getting better day by day it's just because of the prayers of people, because all the people, men, women, children, all of them, all of them have prayed for me, and because of these prayers, and because of these prayers god has given me this new life, and this is the second life, this is a new life. and i want to serve, i want to serve the people, and i want every girl, every child to be educated, and for that reason we credit organized malala fund. martha: what a remarkable young girl she is. the author of instrumenting knell the middle west, what goes through your mind. >> this is a revolution in the making. the taliban is to deny education to women. we've seen it in afghanistan before the liberation.

unfortunately with this traumatic incident. and whatever places whatever militias are in control you're going to see the same. the power of her message of this young pakistani message is that she resisted them, not withdrawn, not with military, not with demonstrations with a very strong will and that will care rear the message very far in that part of the world. martha: this is such an important thing to talk about when you think about our involvement in afghanistan and pakistan to the eubg extent that we have. fighting for the freedom for these girls to go to school is something that has not been talked about as much as to what really was the mission to accomplish there. how do you see it? >> absolutely, martha. initially it was to kupl -b crumble the taliban machine. the last ten years it was to fight. this is civil society struggle, and this young woman is actually

a message from the future. there will be many like malala in the future. she is very influential character h. we should have in the mast ten years worked with teaches, with mothers to produce more and more of these malala figures to lead the youth. those who are nine or ten years in 2001 are now 20, 21. the importance of working with children and mother extremely high for our success in afghanistan. martha: she has been in england undergoing the surgeries and the doctors there have done remarkable things for her. how can she lead? what is her future in terms of inspiring other people? it's so dangerous for these young girls to do what she did. they were angry with her for speaking out and being on a school bus and they shot her in the head. >> they shot her in the head, she survived and now they have a problem. because shys going to be inspiring thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of other young girls. and remember now we have facebook, we have youtube. this is her first speech to the

nation, to the young people in the pakistani nation and soon to be maybe in afghanistan. using all social media and other aspects of communication is extremely important that's why her fund should be supported i would say by the international community and she should be visible. she should have a tour in the international committee and meet with the young people and show youth in pakistan that the world is with them in their struggle to get education to get freedom. martha: it will be interesting to see, and we will be leaving afghanistan in 2014, but this is a presence that she has that is so strong and needs to be talked about. thank you so much for being with us today. it's a great story. >> thank you, martha,. gregg: incredibly bright and articulate. let's turn now to jenna lee standing by because "happening now" begins very shortly. hi, jenna. jenna: hi there gregg. have you noticed the gas prices have gone up recently? eye the biggest weekly price increase in two years. what is going on? we'll tell you why it's happening and what is ahead for you at the bump. the president reportedly ready

to deal to avoid some of those drastic across the board cuts. breaking news ahead on that, what is he going to propose today, plus a dramatic behind the scene details in the rescue of a five-year-old boy kidnapped and being held in that underground bunker. insight you will only here on "happening now." and this. breaking news on skier lindsey vaughn hurt in a serious crash today. we are working on getting you the video and the update ahead on "happening now." gregg: thanks very much. we hope she is okay. also we are following the breaking news out of washington, president obama set to speak about a short-term budget deal. we are going to take you live to the white house. martha: and were there warnings that the super bowl could experience that, a black out? details from the surprising new memo that was just released about all of this. wait until you hear this. we'll be right back. investor. yeah, i'm a serious investor

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martha: it turns out that sunday night's black out may not have been a complete surprise to the officials at the superdome. a newly released memo shows there were concerns about a potential power outage as early as october. the oversight board spent more than a h-fr a millio half a million dollars upgrading the electrical system. the exact cause of the black out still under investigation but superdome officials say that it did not appear to be elated to the equipmentee placement. gregg: half a million down the drain. martha: what was it. gregg: they still had a black out. their story never made sense. we are following events at the white house. very shortly the president will be speak baggy a short-term budget deal that he hopes will

find a way to reduce the deficit without the deep domestic and defense spending cuts. wendell goler standing by live at the white house with a bit more. eufrpblgts this is th >> reporter: this is the president to buy a little more time for him and congress to come together to avoid the so-called see questions terbgs the across the boarsequester, scheduled to take place at the end of last year originally. they bought more time until march 1st. but the president has concern that he and congress won't be able to reach a del by then. it's already starting to cost jobs. he said if they were actually to reach the so-called sequester hundreds of thousands of jobs could be at stake. an aide released a statement a while ago saying we shouldn't have workers being laid off, kids kicked off head start, food safety inspections cut while congress completes the process of working out this deficit

reduction deal. the president will ask for a few more months to get he and congress into the summer to give them time to workout what he wants to be, in his words balanced approach of revenue increases and spending cuts to be able to avoid this across the board government cuts that defense officials say would really hurt the defense department, hurt our readiness, ability to deal with global issues and would also cost significant cuts in domestic programs. gregg: he already raised some taxes and tax rates, now he wants more tax revenue. what does that mean, closing loopholes? >> reporter: he wants to close loopholes which he says allows higher income people to take advantage of things that lower their tax rate below the rate paid by salaried and hourly workers. republicans say that any new tax revenue should be used to lower -- lower income tax rates for everyone. they are not sure they want to use that money to lor lower the

deficit. that is one of the issues that will need to be resolved as the president and congress workout this deal to avoid this sequester, gregg. gregg: the republicans didn't win the last tax battle. we'll wait and see. wendell goler live at the white house. thank you. martha: there are new questions today about the biggest gas price skwrupl nap years in some states. what is going on out there? we'll have new details and what might be the latest pain at the pump.

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martha: we're working on getting more information on u.s. gold medalist lindsey vonn. she is a four-time world champion. the event that was going on in austria, she had a crash. she said it was very foggy. it was delayed a couple hours. three out of the other four top racers did not finish the race. on the left-hand side of the screen you can see her being airlifted. when she got up, she stumbl.